New year promises milestones worth celebrating

Waterloo Region Record

The year that will pass into history in a couple of days was a great one for anniversaries: the War of 1812 bicentennial, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, 100 years of Kitchener cityhood, the 100th anniversary of the Waterloo Historical Society, the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 50 years of the Rolling Stones …

From the way things look just before the outset, 2013 is not as richly endowed with celebration opportunities as 2012 has been, at least not at the regional level.

If there are plans to mark the 40th anniversary of the amalgamated City of Cambridge and the current configuration of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, I haven’t heard about them.

There are, however, some significant milestones ahead, like the 25th annual Waterloo Region Arts Awards ceremony at the end of May.

Some of the national and international anniversaries that were celebrated in 2012 are ongoing. The Cuban Missile Crisis, for instance, was part of a sequence events leading up to the assassination of John F. Kennedy 50 years ago next November, including his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in June and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” oration in Washington the following August.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year began in June. I started trying to compile a list of Waterloo Region Diamond Jubilee medal recipients, which includes a significant number of people who are being honoured for their contributions in the arts, culture and heritage fields. But the full list will not be made public until the program concludes at the end of February.

The War of 1812 went on for almost three years. The year ahead will include the 200th anniversary of the burning of York in April, of Laura Secord’s heroic walk in June, and the burning of Buffalo in December.

We’ll have to wait until December 24, 2014 to celebrate the bicentennial Treaty of Ghent and the peace that has lasted ever since.

No War of 1812 battles took place in the area that later became Waterloo County. But as a community that was founded by pacifists and displays the lion and the lamb and the motto “Peace and Prosperity” on its official crest, it would be fitting to make something of that lasting peace.

As it happens, the current version of that coat of arms was officially granted in 1993 — 20 years ago next year. And it is based on an emblem that was adopted for Waterloo County in 1853, so 2013 will be eight score years since its origins.

At the very least, it would be great to see that crest restored to a more prominent role in the civic affairs of our region in 2013.

That doesn’t mean dispensing with the more utilitarian Region of Waterloo logo that was adopted in 2002 to “help solidify the identity and strong presence” of the Region with “a more updated and contemporary look.” In this case, however, getting up to date seems to have meant becoming more typical, and less meaningful. The logo could just as readily be used to represent a chain of gas stations.

This touches another imminent anniversary that has profound meaning for our community:

The War of 1812 was a relatively minor part of the Napoleonic Wars, which were global in scope and went on for almost two decades — even longer, given that they evolved out of the situations created by French and American Revolutions. This long sequence of armed conflict finally came to an end a few months after the Treaty of Ghent was ratified — near a place in what is now Belgium called Waterloo.

Martin DeGroot writes about local arts and culture each Saturday. You can reach him by email at mdg131@gmail.com